Worth it at the expense of downtown? Per the article, the state leases over 20% of the 6.6M sq ft of downtown office space. Add that to the already high downtown vacancy rate of 20% and that could be devastating. Of course not all of that would move to the Sears site but you get the point.

That's my concern, too. Also, is this as big of a deal now that we built a light rail line connecting downtown and the capitol complex? Even Rice Street station is in the downtown zone. Not only that, but developers have visions of office towers at Snelling station around Allianz Field. I wish St. Paul would focus on dense residential first - the offices will follow (as Minneapolis has seen in the North Loop and Mill District).

Despite almost no new residential construction in downtown St. Paul, there have actually been a reasonable number of residential units added thanks entirely to office conversions. St. Paul has a lot of really bad office space, (Class A space apparently has a healthy vacancy rate, the problem is that St. Paul just has a lot more B and C) and some of it could and should be converted to something else. If the State is sitting in a lot of convertible Class B and C space, moving those workers out could be a net positive in the medium term.

If that *is* the case, I'd hope that KA's plan doesn't go forward without that corresponding plan for the future of the State's offices. Just leaving all of that space downtown and not immediately moving forward with some change of use would be terrible for St. Paul.

mattaudio wrote:
I wish St. Paul would focus on dense residential first - the offices will follow (as Minneapolis has seen in the North Loop and Mill District).

That's why I think this is a good idea, actually. Empty out office space that is unwanted by anyone other than the state seeking a bargain on rent, convert it to high density residential, make Saint Paul a vibrant downtown full of people, and then maybe someone will actually want to sign up as a tenant for the West Publishing site.

The only problem I see with Class B office conversion is the lack of attached parking. Certainly a certain portion of potential tenants/owners wouldn’t mind. But generally parking in close proximity is part of the deal for market rate housing in the Midwest. It would be great if a pioneering developer and the city could work toward more downtown residents.

But generally parking in close proximity is part of the deal for market rate housing in the Midwest.

If people keep believing that this is true, it'll keep being true. St. Paul has one light rail line already, another on the way, two highway BRT routes planned, and one arterial BRT route planned. It is slowly building out a downtown bicycle loop, and is already more walkable than downtown Minneapolis. There's also a huge oversupply of parking downtown generally. Let's hold St. Paul to the standard of a real city, and not of the first ring suburb that it often seems to want to be.

Thank you for your response. There must have been a technical issue with the forum displaying my complete post. Because immediately proceeding the text you quoted I stated that it would be great if a developer took a chance and the city should help facilitate them. You're right that with the growing web of high quality transit in the two downtown areas car free living can and needs to be seen as desirable.

Some other very small agencies in Golden Rule (Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services, Architecture Board). Part of the Judicial branch is in Landmark Towers. Minnesota Housing Finance just relocated into the Treasure Island Center.

I’d venture to guess that most state employees, like me, would prefer to stay south of 94/35e.